Which starter should get most of the blame

[NineOhTheRino]

Too easy to blame everything on Woody.

No 'All of the Above' option to stir up more conversation on what's wrong.

Edited January 13, 2009 by NineOhTheRino

[coachx]

Too easy to blame everything on Woody.

No 'All of the Above' option to stir up more conversation on what's wrong.

The blame game sucks !

Blame for Horford for getting hurt ?

Blame JJ for not shooting well vs. the Magic in the 2 losses there ?

Blame Smoove for rebounding like a PG ?

Blame Marvin for being a little off while fighting through a torn or strained labrum in his shoulder ?

Blame Woody for being the coach ?

Blame Harry the Hawks for not getting the crowd fired up ?

Blame ZaZa gor getting the flu ?

Blame the weather cause its too freaking cold ?

All I know is that today is a new day and a new game will be played ! Beating the Suns with Shaq on fire and no Horford wil be a challenge. We have to hope for the jumpers to fall and for Smith to regain his shot blocking form.

[Traceman]

The blame game sucks !

Blame for Horford for getting hurt ?

Blame JJ for not shooting well vs. the Magic in the 2 losses there ?

Blame Smoove for rebounding like a PG ?

Blame Marvin for being a little off while fighting through a torn or strained labrum in his shoulder ?

Blame Woody for being the coach ?

Blame Harry the Hawks for not getting the crowd fired up ?

Blame ZaZa gor getting the flu ?

Blame the weather cause its too freaking cold ?

All I know is that today is a new day and a new game will be played ! Beating the Suns with Shaq on fire and no Horford wil be a challenge. We have to hope for the jumpers to fall and for Smith to regain his shot blocking form.

The blame game does suck indeed. There is plenty of blame to go around and it will take a collective effort to get us back on track.

We have a solid team but we are nowhere near talented enough to win consistently if ALL of the players in the rotation don't do what they are supposed to do.

[DrReality]

Don't endorse this idea. Everyone has their part of this thing and together we stand . . . . divided we fall.

[AHF]

Don't endorse this idea. Everyone has their part of this thing and together we stand . . . . divided we fall.

Very true.

I will play the "which starter's play has most affected us" game, however. It is not a blame thing but I think Josh Smith's injury has really hamstrung this team. Without his rebounding and shotblocking, we are a much softer frontcourt and that has been really hard for this team to overcome lately.

After that, I think JJ's scoring slump has been harmful.

Bibby and Marvin haven't been high impact, IMO (either way).

Horford hasn't been harmful when he has played and he hasn't been injured long enough to carry a big impact but this could be an issue going forward.

My $.02.

[Diesel]

I think this just goes to show how blind the Hawks fans are...

For the month of January, Smoove probably best Hawk.

For the month of January, Smoove is probably our best offensive player. So he does one or 2 boneheaded things a game. That doesn't mean that our losses are his fault. Sure, his rebounding and Blocks are down.. but so is everybody's. And what about Joe's PPG going down drastically for the month? And how about Marvin not stepping up at all.

Hell, our MVP's this month are Horf, Josh, and Zaza!! With a special mention to Bibby.

[NineOhTheRino]

funny how we have no problem blaming everything on Woody. But I do agree that the blame game is no fun. I'm just really sick of seeing the easy 'Fire Woody' threads.

[coachx]

I think this just goes to show how blind the Hawks fans are...

No one mentioned Smith's offense.

His lack of rebounding and shot blocking is really being felt in the frontcourt with Horford out. I applaud him for his offensive aggressivness in the paint but that does not stop the Magic from having a 40 point 1st quarter against us. You CANNOT win if you give up 40 first quarter points.

Team defense has been our problem the last few games and that is where the focus should be right now to "right the ship."

[NineOhTheRino]

No one mentioned Smith's offense.

His lack of rebounding and shot blocking is really being felt in the frontcourt with Horford out. I applaud him for his offensive aggressivness in the paint but that does not stop the Magic from having a 40 point 1st quarter against us. You CANNOT win if you give up 40 first quarter points.

Team defense has been our problem the last few games and that is where the focus should be right now to "right the ship."

I would rather have Josh playing good defense. I'm sure he'll be the old Josh once he's back 100% healthy.

Edited January 13, 2009 by NineOhTheRino

[coachx]

funny how we have no problem blaming everything on Woody. But I do agree that the blame game is no fun. I'm just really sick of seeing the easy 'Fire Woody' threads.

I never played the "fire Woody cause he's no goody" game either.

I do see the point of your post and another poster already touched on it. Together we rise and together we fall.

[NineOhTheRino]

I never played the "fire Woody cause he's no goody" game either.

I do see the point of your post and another poster already touched on it. Together we rise and together we fall.

and we shall rise tonight!

Something tells me that Woody will get things back on track.

Edited January 13, 2009 by NineOhTheRino

[Traceman]

I think this just goes to show how blind the Hawks fans are...

For the month of January, Smoove probably best Hawk.

For the month of January, Smoove is probably our best offensive player. So he does one or 2 boneheaded things a game. That doesn't mean that our losses are his fault. Sure, his rebounding and Blocks are down.. but so is everybody's. And what about Joe's PPG going down drastically for the month? And how about Marvin not stepping up at all.

Hell, our MVP's this month are Horf, Josh, and Zaza!! With a special mention to Bibby.

Smoove focusing on scoring and not the things that we need him to do to be successful are a part of the problem. We went 11-4 in December when he scored less and rebounded, passed and blocked more. We are 1-4 in January with his scoring being up. We don't need his scoring, we need his defense, rebounding and passing.

As for MVPs this month, we have none. NOBODY is playing good enough to warrant even a mention in that category.

[thecampster]

I think this just goes to show how blind the Hawks fans are...

For the month of January, Smoove probably best Hawk.

For the month of January, Smoove is probably our best offensive player. So he does one or 2 boneheaded things a game. That doesn't mean that our losses are his fault. Sure, his rebounding and Blocks are down.. but so is everybody's. And what about Joe's PPG going down drastically for the month? And how about Marvin not stepping up at all.

Hell, our MVP's this month are Horf, Josh, and Zaza!! With a special mention to Bibby.

I just checked this out. For January, Joe Johnson is shooting (gulp) 35.4 percent and 25% from 3. You gotta love the 9 assists per game from the Shooting guard position but 16 shots a game while shooting 35 percent.

[Plainview1981]

Joe Johnson. He wanted to be the the money maker and "The guy" on the team. He needs to show some leadership and play better on the court. People will say Bibby is the highest paid Hawk. But he is not the long term investment. JJ is.

[Diesel]

No one mentioned Smith's offense.

His lack of rebounding and shot blocking is really being felt in the frontcourt with Horford out. I applaud him for his offensive aggressivness in the paint but that does not stop the Magic from having a 40 point 1st quarter against us. You CANNOT win if you give up 40 first quarter points.

Team defense has been our problem the last few games and that is where the focus should be right now to "right the ship."

Still, it's not his fault that Horford can't play?

Josh can only do so much by himself... where's Zaza's name.. Where's Marvin on defense? Where's Solo's effort. What I mention is that with JJ struggling, Josh helped pick up the offensive pieces.

[AHF]

I think this just goes to show how blind the Hawks fans are...

For the month of January, Smoove probably best Hawk.

Do you really think Josh Smith has been playing well this month?

To me, he is the engine that makes our defense go. Our defense is the single biggest piece in us winning games. When he is not blocking shots and is rebounding like JJ, that takes away a big part of our team. Most of the time, our team has been pretty consistent scoring the ball* but we aren't going to win a lot of games without our D being effective.

Again, I think a lot of this is injury related so it is not to caste blame on him but I don't think Josh has been very effective for us of late.

* = This does not equal maxing out our offensive potential at all.

Edited January 13, 2009 by AHF

[Traceman]

Still, it's not his fault that Horford can't play?

Josh can only do so much by himself... where's Zaza's name.. Where's Marvin on defense? Where's Solo's effort. What I mention is that with JJ struggling, Josh helped pick up the offensive pieces.

Josh CAN'T score enough to make up for JJ's lack of scoring but he CAN get enough rebounds, block enough shots, play enough D and make enough hustle plays to help us win when JJ is off. He is not JJ but he can be the best J Smoove that he can be and that guy is the 2nd best player on this team and a borderline All Star.

[exodus]

Joe Johnson. He wanted to be the the money maker and "The guy" on the team. He needs to show some leadership and play better on the court. People will say Bibby is the highest paid Hawk. But he is not the long term investment. JJ is.

JJ only has one more year on his deal than Bibby. Do you think we should let JJ walk when his deal is up?

[Plainview1981]

JJ only has one more year on his deal than Bibby. Do you think we should let JJ walk when his deal is up?

Of course not. Joe should man up. He will likely be resigned. That's why I say he is still a long term investment. The Hawks have put alot of money in him. They got Bibby here for table scraps. Sure he's overpaid, but on the hawks he is talking the money that was given to worthless scrubs like Lue and Shelden Williams. He was brought here in a last effort to make the playoffs last year. JJ was brought in to be THE GUY. The Hawks gave up first round picks and a decent player just for the rights to sign JJ to a big contract. Alot has/is been put into JJ.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Hotlanta1981

[exodus]

Of course not. Joe should man up. He will likely be resigned. That's why I say he is still a long term investment. The Hawks have put alot of money in him. They got Bibby here for table scraps. Sure he's overpaid, but on the hawks he is talking the money that was given to worthless scrubs like Lue and Shelden Williams. He was brought here in a last effort to make the playoffs last year. JJ was brought in to be THE GUY. The Hawks gave up first round picks and a decent player just for the rights to sign JJ to a big contract. Alot has/is been put into JJ.

And JJ has produced.

I was watching the end of the Cavs-Celtics and Jeff Van Gundy had JJ 2nd on his list of MVPs. He said JJ had done more with less to work with than anyone.

But nobody is going to be on all the time, especially when they lead the league in minutes played and are constantly double teamed. You sure don't see any team doubling Bibby, Smith or Marvin.